1.

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ii.
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iv.
v.

Ionization chambers:

In gas filled radiation detectors as radiation passes through a

gas, it tend to ionize.
If there is ionization in gas, electrons and gas ions attract each
other and recombine.
Radiation detectors operate by using these ionization produced
in the gas.
An external electric field is provided across the sensitive
volume (over which the gas ionizes) in order to prevent the
recombination.
In ionization chamber type gas radiation detectors the voltage
applied is only strong enough to stop the recombination of
electron and gas ions but not sufficient for gas amplification.

The ionization chambers can be of 2 types

Parallel plate type Here 2 electrodes are used as two parallel
plates, i.e. cathode and anode
Cylindrical type where the 2 electrodes are co-axial
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vii.
viii.
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Given enough voltage across the electrodes each ion pair

generated combines with a respective opposite charge from the
electrodes.
The number of such combination is proportional to the number
of pair of charge created which is again proportional to the
energy of incident radiation.
This leads to the identification of the type of particle and its
energy.
As the signal is not large only strongly ionized particles are
detected. (energy >10 keV)
For detection of lower energy particles (<10keV) internal gas
amplification is used.

2.

Scintillation Detectors:

Scintillators are materials that produce light when ionizing radiation

passes through them.
They can be solids, liquids or gases.
When high energy radiations are incident on a surface coated with
soeme fluorescence material scintillations are produced. These

scintillations are detected with the help of a photo multiplier tube,

which gives rise to an equivalent electrical pulse.
Scintillation detectors mainly consists of 3 parts
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ii.
iii.

Scintillator
Photomultiplier
Counter
The scintillator and the photo multipier are collectively called as
Scintillation head.
Scintillator: It is made up of a single crystal
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ii.
iii.

Its desired characeristics are-High efficiency,

Light transparency,
Reasonable Refractive index etc.

Materials used are- CsI, ZnS, Organic phosphorus for gamma rays,
xenon, Thallium activated NaI.
Photomultiplier: It is an evacuated glass tube, having about 10
electrodes known as dynodes. These are positioned in such a way
that automatic focusing of electrons can be done.
Usually dynodes perform 2 functions
i.
ii.

They collect photoelectrons from previous dynode

They emit low energy electrons

WORKING:
When high energy radiations are allowed to enter the scintillator
through a window of pyrex glass, they strike the crystal and short
duration scintillations are produced. The photons of light emitted by
the scintillator are made to strike the photo sensitive cathode of
photo multiplier tube.
The photo electrons emitted from the cathode are directed towards
1st dynode that gives rise to secondary emission of electrons
The secondary electrons from 1 st dynode accelerate towards 1 st 2nd
dynode. This repeats till the end dynode, and electrons multiply in
number. The electric pulse from the PM tube is amplified and is then
delivered to the electronic counting device through a discriminator.

3.

Charge Coupled Device:

1. CCD has the function of capturing an image and transfering it

to the memory system of a camera where it is recorded as an
electronic data.
2. When incident light falls, various sections of CCD make up
charge which is proportional to the intensity of light.
3. That charge can be measured and brightness of any section of
an image can be calculate d precisely.
4. In a digital image each pixel is equivalent to one section of the
CCD. Several of these sections of photosensitive silicon in an
array hold an image.
Working:
1. A Charge Coupled Device is made from a silicon chip.
2. Each pixel is made within the chip, channel stops (insulating
sections of chip)are created, which divide the silicon chip into
rows.
3. A thin layer of silicon dioxide covers the surface , It is insulating
in nature . Then thin strips of alluminium are deposited at right
angle to the channel stop.
4. Bound by channel stops and alluminium the silicon chip forms a
grid of pixels.
5. When light falls upon the grid, the silicon pixels make up
charge .
6. This is evidently proportional to the intensity of incident
radiation falling upon them.
7. So now the image is stored as charge corresponding to each
portion of the grid.
8. Charge is shifted from row to row in the until they reach the
lowest point. Here the charge is transferred to the cameras
memory with very little distortion with the help of a read out
resister.
9. Amount of charges accounts for the intensity of light in each
pixel .The camera constructs the image using the value of
amount of charge in each pixel.
10.
For a CCD to detect colour photograph. The entering light
Is passed through Red, Green and Blue colour filters.